365 T-shirts - the reasoning

This blog should be sub-titled: a journal of my life in geek.

I get my geek on with things about which I am geeky: comic books, Baseball, Ultimate, science fiction, my favorite bands, books I have read and loved, and Jungian psychology to name some of the most frequently traversed subjects.

I began this project simply as a way to count my T-shirts. I own a lot of T-shirts. But how many do I have? Do I have 365? We shall find out.

When I started this blog, I thought about how each T-shirt means something to me. I bought it for a reason, after all. I set myself the task to post an entry about a new T-shirt every day as a way to simply write something every day, a warm up for writing fiction, which is my passion. Writing is like exercise. Warm ups are good for exercise. But after completing a month of blogging about T-shirts, I have learned that this blog serves as a journal; it documents my life in geek, sort of a tour of my interests in pop culture. The blog serves as a tool for self-inventory, for assessment and analysis of self and the origins of self, for stepping through the process of individuation in catalogues, lists, and ranks.

The blog also made me aware that I have some serious gaps in my T-shirt ownership, and I am in the process of collecting some new T-shirts for several of the great popular culture icons that I truly love. Stay tuned.

I was also a bit surprised that people checked out my blog and continue to check it, read it, and even comment on it. I am very appreciative of this readership. Please feel free to share your thoughts in my comments section. I will respond.

Also, please note that I have moved the original introductory text to the side bar. And now, I present to you the most recent entry of 365 T-shirts: a journal of my life in geek. Thank you for reading.

I did not give the MCP's production of JC Superstar a very good review. Though for me, when I criticize flaws and poor choices by a theatrical company, the actual criticisms are limited and mixed with plenty of praise, and the review always ends with a call to action, urging the reader to go see the show and support the live theater.

In May, I was set to return to Marshall to see the MCP's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. After some MCP faithful complained about my JC Superstar review on FACEBOOK, I was eager to return in the hopes of giving Midsummer a good review and assuage some hurt feelings and anger. Often (though not always) I feel badly making criticisms of a theatrical production, especially a community theater of all volunteers. The people involved work so very hard on a show and sacrifice so much that in some ways they simply deserve praise for all the hard work. But like grades in college (my other job), we cannot give A grades for effort alone. There is not an effective way to judge effort. The assessment is always based on the end product. And I am a "theatre critic" not a platform to create 100% positive advertising for the production.

And yet, audiences are not filling theaters as they had been a decade ago, let alone decades farther back. Every year, I seem to have the same conversation with Brendan Ragotzy of the Barn Theatre about the dwindling audience and the expense of running a professional summer stock theater. It was not that long ago that the Barn had to adjust its schedule to allow for an extended run of a hot show with audiences packing its house. Not so in recent years. The Barn even had to close for one year to recoup lost revenue and regroup.

As for my recent review, was my objectivity affected by my love for Jesus Christ Superstar? Possibly, somewhat, though I think I gave the show a fair assessment and loads of praise along with some key criticisms. Do I bring preconceived notions and expectations to a viewing of Jesus Christ Superstar? YES. I expect the part of Judas, the show's key role, to be sung in its original arrangement, someone with a high range. And though the actor playing Judas need not be African-American in every production (despite the original Broadway production and film castings), the juxtaposition of a black Judas and a white Jesus--especially given the skin pigments people probably actually had in that part of the Middle East 2000+ years ago--creates an interesting dynamic on many levels.

Carl Anderson who played Judas in the 1973 film.

Anyway, when I was all set to return to Marshall in May for Midsummer, I was hit with a gastointestinal flu virus that knocked me on my back and made a trip to Marshall and sitting through a potentially LONG Shakespearean production impossible. I was disappointed as I felt I owed the MCP a good review.

Today, Thursday June 20th, I return to Marshall to see Sondheim's Company but not at the MCP's venue but at a place called the Great Escape Stage Company. I am attending with a friend who I made through reviewing, despite some criticisms, which are now water under that oft-mentioned bridge: Gregg Morris.

Back to JC Superstar.

This is the LP I am talking about: with shrink wrap!

Though the Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice rock opera hit Broadway in 1971, it did not reach the consciousness of a young Michigan child (that's me) until the film was released in 1973. The scuttlebutt at the time, as so many gossips were spread solely by word of mouth back then since the Internet had not yet been invented, was that in the title song, "Superstar," Judas sings: "Jesus Christ Superstar, who the Hell do you think you are?"

Being told this by "offended" classmates, I begged my parents for the record album. At this time, there were three albums: the original double album from 1970 (released before the Broadway production launched), the double LP movie soundtrack, and a single LP of selections from the rock opera. My parents bought me the less expensive single, selected LP, and I listened intensely. Remember, we did not have the Internet to look up lyrics transcribed by other people (who seem to have a lot of time for hobbies like transcribing lyrics for the Internet.... says the kettle calling the pot "black"). I could not be sure of what Judas was singing, but I was pretty sure he was not singing: "who the Hell do you think you are?" All I could be certain of was the line ended in "you are." Later, I would learn that the line is "Do you think you're what they say you are?"
I used to dance and sing these lyrics with the microphone and toy speaker my parents gave me for Christmas, often in the outfit pictured here (right).
Other music in rotation at this time: The Partridge Family, The Brady Bunch, David Cassidy, Michael Jackson, the Jackson Five, Josie and the Pussycats, Tony DeFranco and the DeFranco Family, Bobby Sherman, Donny Osmond, the Osmonds, Marie and Jimmy Osmond, The Harlem Globetrotters Theme Song, and Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods.

LAST COMMENT ON JC SUPERSTAR: Once I went to college, I met many people also fascinated by Jesus Christ Superstar. I discussed launching a production of the show and fiddling with gender. My friend Elaine Klein would have made a great Judas (and loved the role as much as I did). How would the show's dynamic change if Judas was a woman? Or what if Jesus was played by a woman? What if the all the roles were played by women except Judas? And so on, the gender variations are fascinating and would open up all sorts of interpretations.

Notables that I like but do not make my top ten: The Magic Show; Once Upon a Mattress; West Side Story; Pippin; The Fantastiks; Little Shop of Horrors; Avenue Q; Wicked; The Lion King; Baby; I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change; and the 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee.

Singin' in the Rain is among my favorite movies of all time and a great musical, but since it started in film and this is a stage musical list, I left it off. I also happen to love the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but that's a story for another time.

Though I have seen Jesus Christ Superstar many times, I am most fond of seeing the Ted Neeley Farewell Tour" or the "New A.D. Tour" September 23, 2006 at the Wharton Center in East Lansing, Michigan.

I have heard of the 1994 version featuring the Indigo Girls, but I have not seen or listened to recordings.

Check out Sense of Doubt blog

Hi. Thanks for reading. I closed out daily transmission on March 21st, day 365 of my T-shirt blog-tastic extravaganza spectacular. Currently, I am enjoying a hiatus of total non-transmission or publication for an as yet undetermined period of time. As of the posting of this note (and it's no April Fool's) on 1404.01, I have some unfinished T-shirt blog entries, which will be posted over the next two weeks. After some more blog vacation hiatus, I will resume T-shirt posts on a regular basis, also as yet to be determined (weekly? Twice monthly?) to finish blogging about all the T-shirts that were not featured in the blog year. MEANWHILE, I am posting weekly and somewhat at random over on SENSE OF DOUBT BLOG.

Over there, you will find THE WEEKLY COMIC LIST, the features of occasional T-SHIRTS I AM WEARING THIS WEEK, book

reviews, comic book reviews, and other popular culture nonsense as I have been for a year now but all will go up at SENSE OF DOUBT BLOG and some will direct back here to 365 T-SHIRTS. Ultimately, I will begin Internet publication of my fiction, primarily the comic book satire episodic story called POP! among other projects. So, in summary, 365 T-SHIRTS will continue though intermittently. SENSE OF DOUBT BLOG will host my main blog presence and fiction writing as well as links to any T-shirt posts shared here. I hope you will continue to follow me in my journey as a writer and a content provider. Thank you for your kind attention and time you have spent with me on this and/or any other day this year. I am humbled and blessed by your readership. - chris tower, blogger, originated 1404.01

SiJ - Daguérose

The Catalanian Tapes

ZENИTH

Original Introductory Text

Maybe it's narcissism. I have been wanting to increase my blog presence, and I wanted something that was easy to update, much like my frequent "Facebookery." Hence, 365 T-Shirts. I have a lot of T-Shirts. Some may say that I am somewhat compulsive about buying T-Shirts, owning them, wearing them. Earlier this year (as the blog would have been better started on January 1st), I wondered if I had 365 different T-Shirts. I don't know. Now, obviously, I could count them, but where is the fun in that? Better to post a picture of one per day for an entire year to test whether or not I run out of shirts before 365 days have passed. This hobby means taking and displaying a lot of pictures of me, which is not a prospect that I find thrilling. But the pride of embracing my geeky side and my obvious egotism make for a fine marriage in what I hope will be seen as a whimsical blog for occasional viewing, if not even a regular check in for many of my friends new and old. Thus, I present 365 T-shirts, launched on 1303.22 or as others call it March 22, 2013. Now watch as I fail to keep it going for even a week...